Eco-Friendly Recycled Pencils Leave Behind Cheery Shavings

Sharpening pencils is a dreary chore that leaves behind dirty, ugly shavings. Designer Duncan Shotton – whose goal is to bring happiness to people in their everyday lives – figured out a way to make even this boring task fun and colorful.

Shotton’s Rainbow Pencils are made from six layers of colorful recycled paper with an exterior layer of either black or white. They use normal graphite and are, in every respect other than their bright paper composition, regular pencils. When you sharpen them, they create beautiful, multi-colored shavings that look a lot more like art than garbage.

The designer turned to Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to put the Rainbow Pencils into production. The project was so popular that it sailed past its financial goal – so hopefully soon these cheerful recycled writing implements will start making appearances in offices and schools rather soon.